FOR SCOTLAND!

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is back at school today which means we can get back to our normal routine.  I plan to enjoy some extra crafty time to celebrate : )

So let's start off the week with a magical card, shall we?

One of my favorite fun facts ever is that the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.  As soon as I saw the Festive Friday challenge, I knew what I had to do:

I missed the cutoff for the last challenge by a few hours so I made sure to get on it quickly this time around.  So from the list, I have bright colors, sparkle gems (they're called Glitter Sequins, but I think they count as sparkle gems), a fancy border, unicorns, and a magic sentiment.  I wasn't sure what was meant by glitter card, but I do have glimmer paper on there if that counts, and while I don't have an actual rainbow image on my card, I did incorporate a full rainbow of colors.

I have the glimmer paper and the glitter sequins, but my unicorns needed MORE SPARKLE so I added Wink of Stella to their manes and tails.

Daphne is currently in dog jail because she wouldn't come inside when I told her to; it was far more important for her to yell at the French bulldogs next door.  Since she's in jail now, I can enjoy my second cuppa and enjoy some blog surfing before I take her on her neighborhood tour.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Terrific Toadstools
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Petunia Pop, Stampin' Blends in Melon Mambo, Timid Tiger, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Azure Afternoon, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Myths & Magic Specialty DSP, Myths & Magic Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Basic Borders dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Sequins, Wink of Stella

One of a Kind Mermaid

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan has STEM club after school today which means I get extra crafty time : )  I have some ideas bubbling in the ol' brain, too, so let's get the day started with a CAS card:

Joanne's card for The Paper Players challenge made me want to get out Magical Day and play around with it, and the new colors from CAS Colours & Sketches seemed like good mermaid colors:

And you can see I had to have another go with the painter's tape : )  My Blueberry Bushel ink pad is quite juicy, so I had to experiment a couple of times to get something that wasn't too dark.  And I almost never color people with blonde hair (I am a brunette, after all, and red hair is just cool judging by all the redhead main characters in the books I read) but I have a blonde mermaid today like Darryl Hannah in Splash (which was another favorite movie as a kid).  To keep it CAS, I didn't add any embellishments other than a bit of Wink of Stella on her scales and the end of her tail.

Daphne is already pestering me to go on a walk this morning, and since it's a bright sunny day I will indulge her even if her manners are pretty terrible.  She's cute so she gets away with a lot : )  Have a magical day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Textured Notes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, painter's tape

Wizard in Blue

Mornin' y'all!  Wellllll I just discovered that Stampin' Up! started a preorder period today for the next batch of online exclusives and yeah I just got myself into trouble the next time the hubs checks our checking account ; )  Also there are now a few more choices for Sale-a-Bration rewards so go check that out!

Time for today's card, and I'm bringing back a retired stamp set today.

NONE SHALL PASS.  Or is he saying HARRY DID YA PUT YA NAME IN THE GOBLET A FIYAAH?? I make myself laugh, at any rate, that's the important thing.  How cool is that wizard in his blue robe and hat?  I'm participating in a couple of challenges today, starting with Retro Rubber:

The stars are ombre and I colored in his robes in an ombre pattern and okay the Tahitian Tide maybe isn't *quite* the same as sky blue but I was working with the colors in the DSP.  Umm hello Stargazing DSP!  This is the first time I've cut into it and isn't it perfect for the wizard!  The polka dot pattern is from the retired Tea Boutique DSP Stack (I needed some Tahitian Tide for the horizontal strip) and the stars are from the current Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack and I just ordered a second pack of it because I've had so much fun with it.  Anyway, my stamp set is Magical Day, which debuted six years ago, and this is only the second time I've used the wizard.  I put the sentiment on the inside of the card (it says "Have a magical day!").

I must admit that the Cupcake Inspirations challenge dictated my choice of stamp set:

Wizards definitely belong in fairy tales.  This challenge had been percolating in my brain for a few days and then the Retro Rubber challenge popped up and that's what made me choose the wizard over the dragon or the unicorn.  And check out the fun sketch from Inspire. Create.:

I had a lot of fun combining the three sets of patterned papers I used on my card.  And the embellishments are the retired Fine Adhesive Sparkle Gems from last year, they're supposedly Pacific Point but I thought they looked right at home with all the blues on my card.

Okay!  I think I need another cuppa tea and then I have to go take my car in for repairs today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Night of Navy, Blueberry Bushel, Tahitian Tide, Smoky Slate, Natural Tones
Paper:  Night of Navy, Tahitian Tide, Thick Basic White, Stargazing DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Fine Adhesive Sparkle Gems, Dimensionals

Fierce Dragon

Hey y'all!  I worked a shorter day yesterday and I had just enough time to eke out a quick card before I went to pick Ryan up.  Here is today's card:

My parade of retired schtuff continues ;)  I'm entering this in a couple of challenges; first up is As You See It:

The first animal that popped in my head when I saw this challenge was a dragon, so that's what I went with.  Dragons are my favorite mythological animal...dogs are my favorite pets...my favorite shirt has a llama on it...foxes are my favorite forest dwellers.  So it's hard to pick just one favorite animal!  And of course I could pick out favorite animals for a lot of my friends and family too, but I only have so much time to make cards.

I used the sketch from Fusion:

And paired it with the colors from the Paper Players:

I had never colored the dragon red before, which seemed like an egregious oversight on my part, and I thought a red-and-yellow dragon would be nice.  I admit that I was stumped for a bit on how to incorporate the Old Olive but I got there in the end (the scales on his tummy shade to Old Olive, and his spines are Old Olive as well...the flash kind of washed that bit out when I took the picture).  And how awesome is that FIERCE sentiment with the dragon image?!  Thank you Wild Cats stamp set!

Hope your week is off to a good start.  Go forth and conquer!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Magical Day, Wild Cats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Shimmery White, See a Silhouette DSP, Ice Cream Corner DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Starburst dies, Tags & Labels Collection dies, Dimensionals

August 2018

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I had Friday off, and while I did spend quite a bit of the day in my craft room, I didn't make anything.  I've been working on cleaning some stuff up and reorganizing a bit instead, but I'm hoping to get a lot done this week!  In the meantime, I have a layout to share today.

All the pictures were taken in August of 2018, and I used Ryan's dragon jammies as my inspiration for colors and for the dragon accent : )  Let's be honest, there are some kid clothes that if they made them in my size I would *totally* wear them, like dragon jammies, and also Ryan's bright orange jacket with a fox face and ears on the hood.  Anyway, I squeezed in nine pictures on this layout so other than the dragon and just a smidge of patterned paper, there wasn't a lot of room for embellishment here.  Which is fine because the pictures tell the story.

Today's color palette:  Call Me Clover, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  You know I love me some greens!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Magical Day
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black marker, Call Me Clover Blends
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched Dies

Glitter Rainbow Unicorn

Mornin', y'all!  I had an enjoyable naptime in my craft room yesterday (to be clear, my kiddo was napping, I was crafting).  I finished up a scrapbook layout and made a very happy card to share today.

AAAAHHHH I kind of love it.  Alllllll the colors!

And there's the inside; I thought the rainbow stripes, the glitter circle, and my fabulous unicorn would be too busy if I put the sentiment on the card front.

This card started with the new challenge from Retro Rubber:

When I was little (like, before I was 7, which is when we moved), I had a bedroom that had rainbow wallpaper on one wall.  I can't remember what color the rest of the walls were painted, but I had a yellow blanket on my bed and I still have the rainbow afghan my mom made to go with it all.  So yeah, I had to do the rainbow challenge!  And since Magical Mates (now one year old, I'm still salty it wasn't carried over from last year's Occasions catalog) is one of my favorite stamp sets ever, I had to use it for this challenge.

I stamped the unicorn with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, die cut, and then just used markers to color in her mane and tail to match the colors in the patterned paper.  I used the retired Pink Pirouette for the card base because I wanted a lighter color that wouldn't compete with all the fabulousness happening up top.  It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but the punched circle behind the unicorn is the white glimmer paper that we had last year to coordinate with Ms. Fancypants.  It looks fun IRL.  My not-so-inner child is pretty happy.

I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

The glitter enamel dots are standing in for the scalloped embellishment on the sketch.  This was so fun to make!

Okay, y'all have a great Thursday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo, Pineapple Punch, Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Pineapple Punch, Shimmery White, How Sweet It Is DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, 1 3/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots

Flamingo Dragon

So the whole time Flirty Flamingo was an In Color, I couldn't really figure out what to do with it, but all of a sudden since we found out it's joining the regular color lineup I keep using it.  And today I have a pink dragon!

I love love love this stamp set.  And happily for me, the Cupcake Inspiration challenge is to make a card with a magical creature on it!  Also, how gorgeous is that silver washi tape?  I almost never buy washi tape because I forget that I have it.  Yep, I've had that tape for months and this is the first time I've used it.

Take a look at the Just Add Ink inspiration photo:

I took the aqua, pink, and yellow tones in this picture and translated them as Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, and Crushed Curry.

Finally, here's this week's sketch challenge from the Paper Players:

That red bar would be a great place for a sentiment, but I couldn't find one I wanted to use that fit in that space, hence the washi tape.  Inside it says I hope you have a magical day.

Ryan is getting antsy so I'm going to go get him some Cheerios.   Hope you have a magical day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Shimmery White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Magical Day washi tape, Dimensionals

Under The Sea

Are you tired of Magical Day yet?  I'm not.  I'm still in denial that it's retiring.  Today my pretty little mermaid has a seahorse friend!

I hadn't used the seahorse at all yet so I just had to do that before the set retires.  And this is a rare quadruple challenge card PLUS I did something I've never done before--I used vellum for my card base!  What do you think?

Okay, four challenges.  Let's start with the Fab Friday color challenge:

I *did* use Basic Gray, but only to stamp the mermaid and seahorse and not as part of any of the other card elements.  But it's on there.

Next up is the SUO Challenge to color:

I used watercolor pencils (the Lemon Lime Twist pencil was from the Lots of Happy card kit, and so is the LLT ribbon for that matter) and a retired Blendability marker for the mermaid's skin.

And here's the Inkspire Me sketch:

The mermaid ended up being larger than the square element on the sketch, but this is what I started from when I designed my card.

And finally, here's the tic-tac-toe challenge from the Paper Players:

I did straight down the middle:  die cut, ribbon, and circle.  I ended up with a LOT of circles on my card, what with the bubbles on the patterned paper, the sequins, and then the vellum circle that I used as a backdrop for the mermaid and seahorse.

Hope you have a magical day, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Basic Gray
Paper:  Vellum, Shimmery White, Myths & Magic DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Mini Dimensionals, LLT ombre ribbon, watercolor pencils, retired Blendability marker, adhesive sequins

Awesome Unicorn

Mornin', y'all!  I'm trying to type this with Ryan in my lap.  He was all grunty and unhappy at me until I pulled him in my lap and now he's got my phone.  That little toot already knows how to swipe his fingers on the screen to make the images move.  Still working on teaching him not to put the phone in his mouth though.

Yeah I'm still not done playing with Magical Day.  I used Peekaboo Peach the first time I used the unicorn stamp and now her name is Macaroni, poor thing.  But I think I was more successful with the peach this time.  Which brings us to the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge:

I used Peekaboo Peach, Lemon Lime Twist, and Sahara Sand for the colors.  The white is Shimmery White because how could it not be with a unicorn?

Here's the sketch from Fab Friday that I used:

And the Paper Players theme challenge:

I admit the sketch isn't necessarily CAS, but I did try to limit the number of layers and keep it clean lines at least.  Like, instead of matting the main image panel, I swiped the edges on my black ink pad so it gives definition without adding another layer.  I was looking for a sentiment to go with the unicorn (I wanted something different than what's in Magical Day), and that's how I ended up with the greeting from Epic Celebrations, one of this year's Sale-a-Bration sets.  It's already retired but the unicorn is going to be too pretty soon :p

The hubs is up now and feeding Ryan yet more Cheerios so I can actually type!  Man, that kid can EAT.  He's going to be begging for my breakfast too in a minute.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Epic Celebrations
Ink:  Basic Black, Peekaboo Peach, Lemon Lime Twist, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Peekaboo Peach, Lemon Lime Twist, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Tailored Tag punch (to flag the ends of the banner), Tutti Frutti adhesive sequins

Retiring: Magical Day & Seaside Shore

Mornin', y'all!  I was blessed with two good naptime crafting sessions yesterday (thank you Ryan) and it's a good thing because I had a slight dangit! moment.  I was halfway done making a card for a color challenge when I realized that I'd used the wrong green for the challenge.  I even had the colors written down right in front of me! #DUH Oh well, I ended up with two cards I like, so you'll see the wrong color card tomorrow.  Here's the second card I made:

Most of the stamp sets on the retiring list I am content to say goodbye to, but not Magical Day.  I love this set so much!  I wish it was carrying over just because I tend not to use a lot of retired stuff except for on scrapbook pages and I want to play lots more with this set.  Well, it will live forever in my collection.

The card base is Shimmery White, and I used very diluted Tranquil Tide to make a tranquil tide for my mermaid.

I've always got a cup of water with me, so I squished the ink pad into the lid to get a pool of ink, and then I poured a bit of water in the ink pad for an impromptu watercolor session.  I also keep a roll of paper towels in my craft room, so when I was done I just blotted the ink out of the ink pad lid.  No muss, no fuss!

Check out this week's sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

And the color challenge from the Paper Players:

You know I love me some Tranquil Tide, so I really don't know why I picked up Wild Wasabi instead on the first card I made (though for that card, Wild Wasabi worked better than Tranquil Tide would have...check back tomorrow to see it).  Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant are now retiring.  I'll be sad to see Elegant Eggplant go, but I do admit that the ink comes out so dark sometimes (especially with my ridiculously juicy ink pad) that it looks black.  We're getting two new purples to replace these two, and I can't wait to dive in to the new colors.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Seaside Shore
Ink:  Basic Black, Tranquil Tide, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, retired skin tone Blendabilities
Paper:  Shimmery White, Wisteria Wonder, Delightful Daisy DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Dimensionals

Real Wizards Wear Pink

Mornin', y'all!  This is our last full week in this house before we move; I'll probably post some scrapbook layouts once we're all packed up but obviously I won't be making any new cards for a while.  So of course this week I had to use the last big character stamp from Magical Day.

You know our shiny new iMac that we got less than a month ago?  It's broken.  This time it's not Ryan's fault either, it was doing this thing where it would randomly restart itself every night around 3 a.m.  Then it began doing it more often, like 2-3 times a day.  When the hubs tried to shut it down to take it in to the Apple store, it was caught in a loop of shutting itself down and restarting--I think he finally had to unplug it.  They've had it since last Thursday and still can't figure out what's wrong with it.  All that to say, I'm blogging from the hubs' laptop, and I haven't figured out the photo editing program here and so the colors look a bit off in that picture but what can you do. 

So, the wizard! I colored him in with watercolor pencils and his robes shade a bit from Melon Mambo to Rich Razzleberry but it doesn't show up as well as I'd like.  I stamped his little magic sparkles with Rich Razzleberry and then gave 'em a swipe with Wink of Stella to make them look more...magical.

Let's take a look at the Paper Players sketch:

I switched out the circle for the pink-loving wizard.  He's in pink because of the Sunday Stamps color challenge:

That looked just like the color palette in the Painted with Love DSP, so that's what I used for my background layer.  (Ironically I chose one of the patterns that's just one color and no gold!)  I used Powder Pink, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Shimmery White for my colors.

Well, I guess it's about time for Ryan and me to head to the gym.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Powder Pink, Shimmery White, Painted with Love DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, mini Dimensionals, Metallic Sequins, Wink of Stella pen

Brave Sir Ryan

So yeah, I've named the knight from Magical Day after my kiddo.  Because why not!

The knight is stamped on Shimmery White cardstock, and the camera kinda caught the shimmer so the knight doesn't look quite as good as he does in person.  Trust me, he's super cute.  In the interests of speed, I colored him in with markers instead of doing watercolor pencils or just watercoloring.  Even with regular markers as opposed to alcohol markers like Stampin' Blends, he still turned out pretty adorable.  I found the greeting stamp in the hostess set You're Delightful, which seemed like a great sentiment to pair with brave Sir Ryan.

I used this week's sketch from Global Design Project:

And I paired that with this week's color combo at Color Throwdown:

Yesterday was my birfday!  Hubs and babe took me out to dinner last night and then baby ended up going to bed almost an hour late so he's still asleep right now.  Still, it's time to get my own brave Sir Ryan up and fed so we can go to the gym.  Yoga day!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, You're Delightful
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Peekaboo Peach, Pool Party
Paper:  Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Tangerine Tango, Shimmery White, Myths & Magic DSP, Painted Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Lots of Labels Framelits, Mini Dimensionals

Splashy Mermaid

Okay so can you tell that I'm in love with the new Magical Day stamp set and matching dies?  Three days in a row!  But come on, how could I resist a stamp set that includes a dragon, a unicorn, a mermaid, and more?

Oh yeah, mermaid!

There are actually THREE SU! stamp sets now with a mermaid in them, and I managed to use all three on this card.  The main image mermaid is from Magical Day, the sentiment is from Message in a Bottle, and the little background stamp (click to embiggen the picture) is from Magical Mermaid.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

The Lemon Lime Twist patterned paper is one of the Sale-a-Bration options, it's called Bubbles & Fizz.  I don't intend to get the Occasions stamp set that matches it, but man I'm in lurve with that patterned paper!  There's a Bermuda Bay pattern with stars and I am hoarding that already.  Love it.

Well, kid and I have to skedaddle if I'm going to get to yoga on time.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Magical Mermaid, Message in a Bottle
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Calypso Coral, Basic Black
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Shimmery White, Bubbles & Fizz DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Iridescent Sequins, Mini Dimensionals, watercolor pencils

Magical Dragon Birthday

After yesterday's card, you would think I'd swear off Peekaboo Peach for a while, but...

Well, I'm surprised too.  But I think maybe it works better on this card?  I wish the glitter on the Myths & Magic DSP hadn't reflected so you could see the colors on it; the top wizard is wearing Tangerine Tango and the dude who looks like he's going on a quest (center) is wearing black.  The wizard on the bottom is in Dapper Denim, and I ended up making my dragon the same color with some Pool Party accents and then his back ridges are Old Olive like the quest guy's under-cloak.  Anyway, back to the peach part--I started out with it in Tangerine Tango, but it just felt like Too Much Orange, so I did the peach instead, then stamped the flames with Tangerine Tango for a fiery background I thought was appropriate for a dragon.  I know a certain dragon-loving girl who will get this for her birthday this summer (provided I remember this card when the time comes).

I used the awesome sketch from Sunday Stamps:

And that's all she wrote today.  Now I need to decide whether or not we're going to the gym...there's some snow outside.  Not a lot, but still, it's snow.  Y'all have a magical day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Basic Black, Dapper Denim, Pool Party, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Peekaboo Peach, Basic Black, Pool Party, Shimmery White, Myths & Magic DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals

Magical Macaroni Pony

Hey, y'all.  I'm tired this morning.  Hubs is sick, so I slept in the guest room last night, which I don't mind except one of our dogs was apparently Not Cool with the change in location and she kept making noise all night and waking me up.  I finally booted her out of the room at 4:30 this morning.  Urrrgh.

So.  Have you ever seen a color challenge that made you say WHAT THE WHAT and then you look at the design team's cards and you're like OH IT REALLY DOES WORK and then you try it on your own and you're like WELL MAYBE NOT.

Meet the Global Design Project color challenge.

So after looking at the design team's cards (hit that link above), I thought okay I can do this, and I've got a cool new stamp set to use for it too.  Can't go wrong with a unicorn, right?

I thought my card was just fine until I took the picture of it and all of a sudden in the view finder of the camera my little pony looked like the same color as macaroni and cheese.  (I took the photo after dark, so I know that doesn't help either what with lack of natural light but...yeah natural light wouldn't help THAT much.)  Now I can't look at this card without singing in my head "And they called her Macaroni!"  Macaroni Pony.  Maybe I would have liked it better if I'd switched the colors around on the unicorn, so a Bermuda Bay body and Peekaboo Peach hair.  Though if you want to get technical, I used the Pumpkin Pie watercolor pencil, which is a good stunt double for Peekaboo Peach.  And macaroni and cheese.

Well, you can't win 'em all.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Sweet Sugarplum
Paper:  Peekaboo Peach, Bermuda Bay, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Umbrella Weather Framelits, Up & Away Thinlits, Mini Dimensionals